The Gods Chosen
by Tintanie
Summary: The eighteen year old girl Alex get thrown into the world of Dragonlance. Right into a world full of war and suffering. How will she cope with the knowledge of the future?


Alex was laying on soft grass and she could hear the birds sing. She groaned and put a hand to her forehead. It felt as though a hundred iron shoed dwarves were dancing river dance on her head. Taking a deep breath she pushed herself off the ground. She had to steady herself on a nearby tree in order to remain standing. A tree! The last thing she could remember was that she was in her room and she didn't have a tree in her room! She looked around. She was in the middle of a forest. Light streamed down through the green foliage. It was autumn and the first leaves had started falling.

_Where the hell am I? _She thought and dusted the dirt from her clothes. Old maples and young ash trees were standing pretty far apart making the forest easy to see through and not so scary. She was in the middle of no where with nothing except for her clothes. She cursed soundly. Seeing no other option she chose a direction and started walking. Her mind was spinning. Where was she? How had she gotten here? She had no answers. She tried to play word games with herself to keep her emotions in check. She succeeded fairly well. She didn't panic too much.

Coming over a small hill she could see the end of the forest. A wicked grin spread itself over her face.

"YES!" She made a little victory dance and praised herself for choosing the right direction. She ran the last few hundred meters and skidded to a stop as she emerged on a dirt road.

The sun was starting to go down and it suddenly hit her that she had no place to sleep.

_I will not sleep on the ground in my jeans!_ She thought. With that in mind she chose once again a direction. Turning her steps to the left she followed the dirt road, glad to be out of the forest.

After walking quite a while the road started to go upwards over a big hill. Sighing deeply she forced her tired legs to walk up the hill. As she reached the crest of the hill she sank down to her knees out of shock.

_Impossible..._ She whispered in disbelief. From the hill she could look down into a valley. The valley consisted of huge trees. The leaves were different shades of greens, oranges and reds as the season of autumn colored them. The trees were the biggest she had ever seen. They were in fact so big that they could support normal sized houses, which they also did. Light could be seen in the numerous windows and smoke rose from several chimneys. Between the trees went long bridges, connecting them.

"You gotta be kidding me" she repeated. "Solace"

It was Solace, her favorite place from her favorite books. It was right there in front of her. She rose slowly, still not believing what she was seeing. Her legs started walking down into the valley without her really realizing it. She must have looked pretty strange if someone would have seen her, luckily no one did. She walked as if in a dream, her mouth half open. She took in the amazing sight with all her heart.

She smiled as she spotted the largest tree which hosted the largest building. The Inn of the Last Home. At least she didn't have to sleep on the ground. She rubbed her sore legs and prepared herself for the long exhausting climb up the enormous staircase.

When she had finally climbed the last step her legs screamed in pain. She had to fight the urge to sit down.. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

Tika Waylan crisscrossed between the many tables of the inn with ease. She graciously spun herself out of the grasp of a bearded man with a small smile. She had to do that often nowadays. Caramon who had said that she was too ugly to ever get a man. She stifled a laugh. She looked forward on meeting them all again. It had been so long. Five whole years. She hoped that she would hear of the adventures they had gone through.

She placed the empty tray on the bar disk and went to sit down a while. It was quite late and most customers had left or gone to bed. Tike sighed as she thought of everything she had to do before she could go to bed. Suddenly the inn went awfully quiet and she could hear the door being closed. She wondered who had come. Her thoughts wandered to Caramon, but he wasn't going to come for another week or two. Tika rose and looked over the bar disk.

It was a girl who had entered. A strange girl. The reason for the quiet customers was her clothes. She was dressed in tight blue leggings of some strange material and a black, long sleeved tunic which wasn't really a tunic. Long blond hair fell over her shoulders and down her back. As the girl turned around Tika could see that she was quite pale and in her green eyes were fear and anxiety. A dark blue headband covered her forehead. When the girl saw the stares of the guests she quickly pulled the deep hood up over her head. Tika watched her as she went over towards the fireplace and sat down in the darkest corner.

Alex thanked the gods that the dark corner was empty. She sat down, or more like collapsed, in the chair. The warmth from the fireplace made her feel safe. She released a sigh of relief as the people in the inn stopped staring at her and went back to their drinks and gossips. She dared to take of her hood, but made sure her headband was still in place. Not that it mattered much, no one could see her clearly in the darkness anyway. She took some time to look more closely at the inn. It looked exactly as she had imagined. She found only one word that could describe the inn and that was 'cozy'. The firelight reflected in the colored windows and the wooden furniture were worn but still beautiful.

No wonder its named 'last home'" Alex thought with a small smile.

A young, red-haired barmaid caught Alex's' eyes as she made her way towards the newcomer. The barmaid gave her a reassuring smile and her green eyes shone with the light of the fire. Alex's jaw dropped to the floor.

"Would you like to order something?" The barmaid asked politely. Alex recovered from her shock and smiled nervously.

"I'm afraid that I don't have any money." She ran a hand through her hair as she always did when she was nervous. "but if the water is free I would like a glass." she added.

"Sure" The barmaid replied sweetly and turned away. Alex watched her go and within a moment reappeared with a big glass of clear water. Thanking the barmaid and taking a big gulp of the water she gathered her courage.

"Excuse me...What is your name?"

"It's Tika."

As the last costumer left and went upstairs Alex rose and walked towards the bar. She brought har empty glass with her and placed it soundly on the disk. The barmaid Tika came out from the kitchen as she heard the sound. She was carrying a bucket and a rag. She smiled as she saw the nervous Alex.

"Eh... Hi, I was wondering if there is a chance for me to work here in payment of a place to sleep?" Alex rushed. She felt so stupid, but she could see no other option this was her only chance. Dropping her gaze from Tikas green eyes she started playing with the string on her hood. Tika saw the girls' cramped position and replied that she had to ask Otik.

"We could use another hand around here." Tika announced as she reappeared. Alex beamed.

"Thank you sooooo much!" She said thanking the gods for the second time that day. Spotting the rag in Tikas hand Alex offered her help.

"That would be wonderful." Tika answered gratefully and handed Alex her rag as she went to get another for herself. Neither of them spoke as they cleaned, both caught up in their own thoughts. Alex was in a dreamlike state as she realized that she actually worked at the Inn of the Last Home. She couldn't believe her luck. She hadn't thought she would be welcomed in her foreign clothes and strange appearance, but Otik didn't seem to mind. It took about twenty minutes to finish the cleaning. Tika was a bit faster then Alex but it didn't matter.

"What's your name by the way?" Tika asked as she dropped her rag into the bucket with water.

"My name is Alexandra" Alex answered. "but everybody calls me Alex."

"Okay Alex, let me show you to your room."

They walked up the stairs to the second floor with all the rooms for rent. Taking a sharp turn to the right and walking along the corridor Tika finally stopped infront of a door with the number 14 engraved on the doorpost.

"Here is your key." Tika said and handed Alex a small iron key. "I will wake you up tomorrow and help you pick your dress." She pointed at her own barmaid outfit with white sleeves and white apron. Alex smiled tiredly. Dresses wasn't really her thing, but because of the help she had been given she would do anything for these people.

"You have no idea how much I appreciate everything you are doing for me, trusting me and everything. I cannot thank you enough." Alex said sincerely.

"You're absolutely welcome. Otik is quite a judge of character and if he trusts you then nobody is in a position to doubt."

"Thank you. Good night Tika."

"Good night Alex. I'll see you tomorrow morning.

Alex was unable to find sleep. Even though she found it exhilarating to be in Krynn, she wanted nothing more then to go home. She lay with her head under the pillow and fought the urge to scream in despair. How was she going to survive without her family and her friends, her life? Sure she was extremely lucky to be taken care of by Tika, but how can an eighteen year old girl from New York survive in a world full of war and death? The thought hit her with the impact of a oversized cannonball. The war! This was before the war of the lance! Before the dreadful attack on Solace.

She wondered which year it was. Tika should be nineteen as the companions arrive and she sure looked like it. Screaming the worst curses imaginable she finally started crying. Stinging tears ran down her pale cheeks. This made her even angrier. She never cried, she wasn't the crying type. Being quite a tomboy at home and mostly hanging with the boys she had never been the soft type.

Alex finally fell sleep. She cried in her sleep until there weren't any tears left to spill.

A loud knock on her door woke Alex from her daydream. She stood leaning on the windowsill and watched the sun as it was rising. She shrugged and quickly put on her jeans before opening the door. It was Tika who had knocked or at least Alex thought it was Tika, it was hard to see who it was under all clothes.

"Good morning." Alex said and stretched.

"Good morning." Tika voice sounded muffled from the clothes, but it was Tika never the less.

Alex chuckled as she watched Tika march into her bedroom and throw the clothes heavily on her bed.

"Now lets see..." Tika said in a business like manner and eyed Alex closely. Alex ran her hand through her blond hair. "What size are you Alex?"

"Well.. I don't know..." She replied hesitantly. _To small_ her mind added gloomily. Tika drew forth a small dress and handed it to Alex. Alex held it up in front of her and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yeah your right" Tika agreed and threw Alex an even smaller dress. "Try this on instead."

It fitted fairly well or at least as well as any dress on a girl like Alex. She was slim built with narrow hips and not much that you can call curves. She was quite the opposite of Tika and even though they were about the same age Alex looked far younger.

"Turn around." Tika ordered. Alex turned around with a sigh. "Come on it looks fine." Tika said with a smile. Alex rolled her eyes.

"I don't fit in dresses there's no need to deny it."

"Ah, don't be so negative. Some changes must be done though." Tika took some pins and started pinning up the dress in several places. When she was done she helped Alex out of the now dangerous dress.

"I will get this fixed and while you wait you can go and get something for breakfast."

"Thanks. I'll see you downstairs then."

Alex got into the life at the inn fast. She woke up quite early every morning and went on a walk among the many bridges or down on the ground. She usually came back just in time for breakfast. After breakfast she swept the floor and watered the plants. Then she had a small break before costumers started to arrive. She had been in Solace for a little more then a week and she already knew half of the town. It was a wonder how many people came by the inn. It was always busy.

"Krynn to Alex...Hello..." Alex was pulled from her thoughts as Tika waved a hand in front of her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, what d'you want?" Alex muttered. She had been trying to think of a way to get home, but hadn't come up with anything. Yet. She mentally added.

"No need to be grumpy." Tika said disapprovingly.

"Sorry Tika"

"That's better" Tika patted Alex as though she was a little girl who had done her homework correctly. Alex stuck out her tongue and Tika laughed. They often found themselves teasing each other in similar manners and both Otik and the costumers was often having quite a laugh at their childish appearance.

"What did you want then?"

"Well this morning a strange, old man came to the inn..." Tika said thoughtfully. Alex nearly choked on her glass of water. "You all right?" Tika asked as Alex recovered.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What did the old man want?" Alex asked even though she knew exactly who and what the old man wanted. Tika had told her about the homecoming of the companions, but Alex had totally forgotten about the Paladins visit. She cursed herself for missing him. If someone could help her to get home, it was a god.

"Well, except for acting really strange, he rearranged the tables a bit. The weirdest thing was that I didn't hear him coming." Usually you hear the guests as they climbed the enormous staircase.

"Strange..." Alex replied absently. The companions were coming tonight. She was actually going to meet them all. Tanis, Goldmoon and even the infamous Raistlin. She tried to calm herself but she had a urge to jump up on the table and dance of joy. Tika waved her hand in front of Alex's' eyes a second time.

"Oh sorry Tika... I was thinking."

"Oh, really? You are never doing that" Tika replied sarcastically. Alex slapped her playfully on her arm. Tika hit her back and made a run for it. Alex rushed after her onto the many bridges of Solace. Their clear laughter rang through the golden and red vallenwoods.

Alex had a hard time concentrating the rest of the day. She found herself lost in thought or dropping things and finally Otik got so irritated that he sent her away for a while. She was ordered to work that evening instead. So she spent the afternoon walking around Solace and watching all the people. She walked into a few stores and she must have missed a bridge or something because suddenly she had no idea were she was.

_Oh crap_. She thought and sighed, _this is just great. _

Luckily there was a ladder hanging down from the bridge a few meters away. Alex hadn't yet gotten accustomed to living high off the ground so she had spent quite a time down there. She figured that she would be better off down below so she climbed down nimbly.

She recognised where she was rather quickly and began to stroll back towards the inn. On her way there she passed by the smithy. She hadn't been in there before so she knocked soundly on the door.

"Come in!" a gruff voice ordered and it was followed by several loud blows. The smith was probably working. Alex swung open the heavy door and stepped inside. It wasn't as dark as she thought it would be and in the front of the smithy was some kind of shop. Theros Ironfeld appeared as he entered the shop from the smithy. He looked slightly surprised as he saw a young girl weighing a sword in her small hand.

"Hello" Alex nearly dropped the sword, she hadn't heard him coming. She quickly regained her composure and smiled at the smith.

"Good afternoon, sir."

"No need for formalities. Theros 's the name and may I ask for yours."

"I'm Alex" She stated as she swung the sword. "Oh sorry...I guess I'm not allowed to do that as the sword isn't mine."

"Of course your allowed to test it, how else would you know if it's good or not." Alex smiled. She liked this guy.

"It's beautiful." she said as she studied the details. "Do you by chance sell any bows here as well?"

"I don't buy bows anymore, but I think I have a one left. Do you want to try it?"

"Really?! That would be awesome!" She grinned widely. Theros grinned back and went to get the bow for the unusual girl.

He repapered and handed Alex a slim, light bow. She held it firmly in her left hand and drew the sting to her cheek.

"Can I shoot outside?" She asked Theros with a puppy look. Theros burst into laughter.

"Of course sweetie." Alex snatched an arrow and ran outside, Theros following her.

"Try to hit that pole over there" He challenged and pointed to a pole really, really far away.

"You gotta be kidding me. I have never shot before ya' know" Alex put her hand on her hip.

"Ah, come on little girl. Try."

"Okay, but if I hit it I get the bow." The smith just laughed.

"You sure had an unusual attitude for a young girl." He couldn't help comment.

"I'm not a normal young girl." Alex stated and tried to look offended. This only caused Theros to laugh even harder.

"I like you Alex and because of that; yes you will get the bow if you hit it."

Alex stepped forward and placed her feet so they made a straight line towards the target. She notched the arrow and took aim. She let the arrow loose. As she saw where she hit she was stunned. The light bow slid from her hand. She couldn't believe that she had hit the thing. She looked back and found Theros in the same state as she was. He stared at her with his mouth open.

Alex only shrugged her shoulders and sat down on the ground.

"How did you do that?" Theros asked as he regained the ability to speak.

"I don't know." Alex answered sincerely. "And I promise you on everything that is honourable that this was the first time I have ever tried archery."

"And I believe you even though I don't know why... I guess the bow is yours then."

"Really?"

"It was a part of the deal wasn't it?" He asked with and blinked. "You can have a quiver with ten arrows as well, you earned it. Barely Tanis the Halfelf would be able to do that."


End file.
